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The Paris Express

Synopsis

In this riveting historical thriller, a deadly plot unfolds aboard a train hurtling towards Paris. From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Room, Emma Donoghue takes you on a heart-pounding ride in The Paris Express.

'Ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the train itself' – Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam
'Riveting' – The Washington Post
'All about speed . . . this novel is a masterclass' – The Independent


Paris, 1895. Glamour hides a city on the brink. One morning, a young woman boards the Granville express with a deadly plan.

On the journey lives intertwine in explosive ways. There are the railway crew who have everything to lose, a little boy travelling alone for the first time, an elderly statesman with his fragile wife and a lonely artist far from home.

The train speeds towards the City of Light and into a future that will change everything . . .

'An edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn't put down' – Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

Details

20 March 2025
288 pages
9781035057269
Imprint: Picador

Reviews

Donoghue's historical fiction holds a special place in my heart . . . [she] is not a timid custodian of the past but an excavator, digging beneath bromides to unearth the defiant truthNaoise Dolan, The Irish Times
Clever, ambitious, and richly researched. A slice of 1890s Paris that makes us see that our modern problems aren’t so modern after all! The Paris Express is a smartly structured novel that ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the doomed train itselfAlice Winn, author of In Memoriam
Captivating! Emma Donoghue writes in rich, luxuriant detail, yet the story moves at a exhilarating clip. An edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn’t put downShelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
Wonderful. In exploring a little-remembered event in history, she manages to hold a mirror up to a whole society. An absorbing, panoramic, meticulously researched, lovingly peopled gemEsi Edugyan, author of Washington Black